starter problem

I have a '91 E150 with the inline 6 engine. Lately I've been having an intermittent problem starting it. Sometimes when I try to start it, the starter is really sluggish... the engine turns, pauses, turns, pauses, turns, pauses, like it doesn't have enough power to keep turning the engine over at a constant speed.

I put a new battery in probably 3 or 4 months ago, so I doubt that is the problem, but I will check to be sure. The last time it was really a problem I had been driving it for 30 minutes or so, turned it off for 10 minutes, then it would barely turn over when I tried to start it back up. Then yesterday I went out to see if it would start and it started right up, no problems at all. However, I have noticed it being sluggish when the engine is cold, so I don't think it's isolated to hot-starting conditions.

Any ideas? Should I just yank the starter out and get it checked? Since this problem is intermittent, would they be able to tell anything by checking the starter?

thanks for any help you can provide,

Eric

Reply to
Eric Yancey
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why not just drive over the auto zone and get them to come out and put a meter on the car.. it might be the battery, the starter or the alternator.. i got a meter and can check my to make sure the battery is at 12.6 volts and when cranking the voltage does not go down below 9 volts and when it starts up if the alternator is putting out 13.5-15 volts to recharge the battery like it is suppose to do... also have a small slap on the side of stater wire meter that tells how much amps the starter is pulling.. sure beats taking stuff out to have it checked... hope this helps.

Reply to
jim

Thanks Jim for the suggestions. I checked the battery and it's putting out

12.6 volts exactly, and when the van is running the alternator is charging 14.6 volts. Oddly enough today there was no problem starting, but I'm sure it'll happen again (probably at a very inconvenient time). I've got a portable jump starter so if it acts up again I'll try using that to see if it helps any.

thanks again,

Eric

Reply to
Eric Yancey

Why not put the meter on the battery while the starter motor is running ?

If the voltage drops a lot --> really is battery gone, or motor somehow defective (short)

Small voltage drop --> bad connection or bad relay to or in starter

Soren

Reply to
Soren Kuula

Check/Replace Battery Cables. Corrosion gets inside battery terminal connector-looks good but causes high resistance and intermittent starting problems. Happened on my 92 Explorer and several Fords owned by friends.

Reply to
Harley Guy

CHECK FOR PROPER GROUND BETWEEN MOTER AND CHASSIS

Reply to
Bob K

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